8 in A minor, RV 522 -> BWV 593 in A minorĪs Elaine Thornburgh has noted and we saw last week, Bach was particularly attracted to the Italian style in which one or more solo instruments alternate section-by-section with the full orchestra throughout a movement. At that court he composed Fugues on themes by Corelli, Legrenzi, and Albinoni, many Preludes and Fugues, the Fantasia & Fugue in G minor, the Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major, and his two most famous works for organ, the Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV 565-musical rhetoric in action!-and the massive Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, as well as his two organ arrangements of Vivaldi Concertos, one of which we shall hear today.ĬONCERTO No. Such was Bach’s mounting fame as a “hot-shot” organist that the very next year he was hired as court organist-as well as violinist, concertmaster, and director of chamber music-by the Duke of Weimar.

Blasius Church) in Mühlhausen (1707–08 where he composed organ preludes, fugues, toccatas, and fantasias, as well as his two earliest-known cantatas- Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir (From the Depths I call to you, Lord, 1707) and the well-known Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death, by 1708), two choral works that, once heard, journey with one through life. Bach’s next professional position was as organist of the Divi-Blasii-Kirche (St. His first job was as organist of the Neukirche in Arnstadt (1703–07 where he got into trouble with the church authorities for overstaying his leave to walk to Lübeck to hear Dieterich Buxtehude perform his choral and organ music. Pier-Leone-Ghezzin-Caricature-of-Vivaldi-1723Īs a performer, Bach was first and foremost an organist. Today I’d like us to listen to one of the Vivaldi concertos that he transcribed for the organ.

Co-Artistic Director, Musique du Jour PresentsĪs we saw last weekend, during his employment at the court of Weimar, Johann Sebastian Bach prepared solo harpsichord versions of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi.

Vivaldi a minor concerto